Archeage

# Archeage with Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT delivers a mid-pack experience in Archeage, ranking 1754th out of 2761 tested combinations. This places the combo in the lower-middle tier of tested systems, with measured frame rates ranging from 21 FPS at 4K Ultra to 135 FPS at 1080p Low. The data shows a configuration that can handle the MMORPG at lower resolutions and settings but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Archeage?

A: The highest measured average is 135 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Medium settings, the average drops to 120 FPS, while High settings yield 82 FPS and Ultra falls to 56 FPS.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 52 FPS on Low, 46 FPS on Medium (with min/max of 39/53), 32 FPS on High, and only 21 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low preset remains comfortably above 30 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 1754th out of 2761 tested combos, placing it in the 63rd percentile position from the bottom. This indicates a below-median standing among all tested CPU-GPU pairs for Archeage.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus scores 84,003 average in synthetic benchmarks, sitting 0.2% above the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (83,807), 1.1% above the AMD EPYC 4584PX (83,090), and 1.2% above the AMD EPYC 9135 (82,980). It trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 (85,072) by 1.3%.

Q: What GPU memory capacity does the Radeon RX 7600 XT offer?

A: The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This capacity is substantial for a card in its performance class.

Q: Is there a frame rate range recorded for any settings preset?

A: Yes, the Medium preset at each resolution includes min/max data. At 1080p, the range is 102–138 FPS; at 1440p, it is 69–93 FPS; and at 4K, it spans 39–53 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 33 chip, fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), delivering 288.0 GB/s across a 128-bit bus. The GPU's base clock is 1980 MHz, with a game clock of 2470 MHz and a boost clock of 2755 MHz.

In Archeage, the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth become increasingly relevant at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average frame rate collapses to 21 FPS, while 4K High only manages 32 FPS. This suggests that the GPU's compute resources — 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs — are insufficient for the demands of Archeage's Ultra preset at 4K. The card's FP32 throughput of 22.57 TFLOPS provides a theoretical ceiling that the measured results clearly do not reach at high settings.

The RX 7600 XT's synthetic benchmark scores place it at the 60th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 17,083. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, scores 17,208 (a 0.7% advantage), while the GTX 690 sits 0.3% below at 17,037. These close margins indicate that the RX 7600 XT competes in a tightly clustered performance band, which aligns with its measured behavior in Archeage — capable at lower presets but not at the top end.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 1754th out of 2761 tested combos in Archeage. This places the pairing in the lower third of all tested configurations, suggesting that while the CPU is a high-end part (96th percentile among all CPUs), the GPU holds the combination back.

The CPU's synthetic average score of 84,003 puts it just 0.2% ahead of the Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.1% ahead of the EPYC 4584PX. However, the GPU's 60th percentile standing among all GPUs means the overall system is not positioned for top-tier gaming performance in this MMORPG. The gap between the CPU's percentile (96) and the combo's rank (1754/2761) highlights a significant imbalance — the processor is far stronger than the graphics card can utilize in Archeage's rendering workload.

Within the measured data, the combo's performance scales predictably with settings and resolution. The rank position suggests that many other combinations deliver higher frame rates in this game, likely due to more balanced pairings or GPUs with higher raw throughput. The 4K Ultra result of 21 FPS and 1440p Ultra result of 38 FPS indicate that this setup struggles at the highest quality presets, which likely explains its mid-low ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 135 FPS, Medium drops to 120 FPS with a range of 102–138 FPS, High yields 82 FPS, and Ultra falls to 56 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 79 FPS, representing a 58.5% reduction in frame rate from the lowest to highest preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 91 FPS on Low, 81 FPS on Medium (69–93 FPS range), 55 FPS on High, and 38 FPS on Ultra. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 33% of performance at Low settings (135 to 91 FPS), 32.5% at Medium (120 to 81 FPS), 32.9% at High (82 to 55 FPS), and 32.1% at Ultra (56 to 38 FPS). This consistent drop across presets indicates resolution scaling is the dominant factor.

At 3840x2160, the results become marginal. Low averages 52 FPS, Medium 46 FPS (39–53 FPS range), High 32 FPS, and Ultra just 21 FPS. The 4K Low result represents a 42.9% drop from 1440p Low, while 4K Ultra is 44.7% lower than 1440p Ultra. None of the 4K presets reach the 60 FPS threshold, and only Low and Medium maintain averages above 40 FPS.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions. This reveals that at 1080p, the frame rate stays within 102–138 FPS; at 1440p, it ranges 69–93 FPS; and at 4K, it spans 39–53 FPS. The spread between min and max FPS narrows as resolution increases, from 36 FPS at 1080p to 24 FPS at 1440p and 14 FPS at 4K, suggesting the GPU becomes the consistent bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution and frame rate preference. At 1920x1080, Medium settings provide the best balance, with an average of 120 FPS and a minimum of 102 FPS ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. High settings at 82 FPS are also viable, though the drop below 100 FPS may be noticeable for users with high-refresh displays.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings deliver 81 FPS average with a 69 FPS minimum, which remains playable for most users. High settings at 55 FPS are acceptable but approach the threshold where frame pacing issues can become visible. Low settings at 91 FPS offer the smoothest experience but sacrifice visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the data suggests that only Low settings (52 FPS) provide a playable experience, with Medium (46 FPS) being borderline. High and Ultra at 32 and 21 FPS respectively are not recommended for any scenario requiring responsive gameplay. The 4K Low preset is the only configuration that stays above 50 FPS average.

For the best overall experience, Medium at 1440p emerges as the strongest recommendation — it maintains a 69 FPS minimum, offers 81 FPS average, and retains moderate visual quality. Users prioritizing frame rate over visuals should consider 1080p Medium for 120 FPS average, while those accepting lower fidelity can use 1440p Low for 91 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus features 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz. Built on a 3 nm process at TSMC with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die, this processor is designed for high multi-threaded throughput. Its L3 cache totals 36 MB shared, with 192 KB L1 and 3 MB L2 per core.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark results are exceptional. Cinebench R23 scores reach 51,731 multi-core and 7,303 single-core, while PassMark multi-thread hits 60,860 and single-thread 4,823. The integer math score of 166,194 and floating point score of 214,760 indicate strong arithmetic capability. These results place the CPU at the 96th percentile among all processors.

In Archeage, the CPU's influence is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 135 FPS, which is the highest measured result — this suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this setting. However, the 4K results show the GPU becoming the limiting factor, as the CPU's considerable compute power cannot compensate for the RX 7600 XT's throughput ceiling.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the Core Ultra 9 285K (0.2% lower), EPYC 4584PX (1.1% lower), EPYC 9135 (1.2% lower), and EPYC 7F72 (1.3% higher) — all cluster within a narrow performance band. The 290K Plus's 24 cores and 24 threads provide ample parallelism for MMORPG workloads, though Archeage's engine may not fully utilize all available threads.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate behavior across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU limitation. From 1080p to 1440p, the average frame rate drops by approximately one-third across all settings — 135 to 91 FPS at Low (32.6% reduction), 120 to 81 FPS at Medium (32.5%), 82 to 55 FPS at High (32.9%), and 56 to 38 FPS at Ultra (32.1%). This consistent scaling factor indicates that pixel count is the primary driver of performance loss.

From 1440p to 4K, the reductions are larger in percentage terms: Low drops from 91 to 52 FPS (42.9%), Medium from 81 to 46 FPS (43.2%), High from 55 to 32 FPS (41.8%), and Ultra from 38 to 21 FPS (44.7%). The steeper decline at 4K suggests that memory bandwidth and ROP throughput become more critical at this resolution. The RX 7600 XT's 288.0 GB/s bandwidth and 64 ROPs are insufficient to maintain proportional performance as pixel count quadruples.

The min/max data at Medium settings shows that frame time consistency degrades with resolution. At 1080p, the range spans 102–138 FPS (36 FPS spread); at 1440p, 69–93 FPS (24 FPS spread); and at 4K, 39–53 FPS (14 FPS spread). While the absolute spread narrows, the relative variation increases — the 4K range represents 30.8% of the average, compared to 28.6% at 1440p and 28.3% at 1080p. This indicates that the GPU's limited resources produce more pronounced frame pacing issues at higher resolutions.

The overall scaling behavior identifies the GPU as the bottleneck. The CPU's 96th percentile standing and high single-thread performance (7,303 in Cinebench R23) ensure it is not the limiting factor at any measured configuration. The consistent resolution-based degradation, rather than settings-based degradation, further confirms that the RX 7600 XT's pixel throughput is the constraint. Users seeking higher 4K performance would need a GPU with greater memory bandwidth and ROP count, as the current configuration's 16 GB frame buffer is not the limitation — the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth and 176.3 GPixel/s pixel rate are.